Kars
Appearance Kars takes the appearance of a tall, very well-built man. He has elegant, relatively feminine facial features, and a much lighter complexion than the other Pillar Men. He has long, dark, wavy hair; which he keeps under a dark, tight head-wrap (taking it off as a sign of either honor or aggression). He is otherwise minimally dressed, wearing high boots, forearm guards, a thong, and a flowing loincloth. When attacking, he produces long, shimmering blades from his forearms. While travelling to Italy, Kars dons a fedora and a longcoat in order to appear less conspicuous. Equipment & Abilities HIGH-LEVEL BODY MANIPULATION Pillar Men can freely change and manipulate their bodies to a greater degree and speed than any vampire created by the Stone Masks, being able to dislocate or even break their own bones as well as flatten organs in order to achieve any form they desire. With their near-immortality and powers of regeneration, they can survive, endure attacks, and restore their bodies even after being reduced to only a brain. ADVANCED INTELLIGENCE The Pillar Men's most dangerous trait is their superior intelligence. They are capable of perfect recall and are able to instantly analyze and understand the mechanics behind anything, even complicated things such as languages, machinery, tactics, systems, and people's minds and actions, within a matter of seconds. Santana instantly learned the procedure to dissemble a gun that might have taken a human hours to learn; and Esidisi was able to match Joseph in wits. ENHANCED SENSES Pillar Men possess extremely enhanced senses. These are demonstrated a number of times, such as Santana sniffing out the area like a dog, or Kars being able to detect the number of people in a room via heat signatures. ABSORPTION The Pillar Men's main method of sustenance is absorbing living beings (including Vampires) via any form of physical contact. A Pillar Man's body is composed of cells that release a digestive acid, which melts the victim at a cellular level, creating the illusion that the Pillar Man is absorbing a victim into its body. The cells also appear to induce an euphoric enzyme as victims subjected to the process do not feel anything until physical contact is broken. The surviving Pillar Men displayed this ability in creative ways: Santana forced himself into another's body to control their movement while eating them from the inside, Wamuu grafted the hands of multiple targets and absorbed their innards by simply touching one, and Esidisi grafted a human limb to himself after losing his original forearm. This ability is ineffective against Ripple users as the cells perceive the danger posed by their energy. ELEMENTAL BATTLE MODE The more experienced Pillar Men each have their own special fighting style, characterized by a specific "element" such as fire, wind, or light. Powers based around these elements are referred to as "Modes" . This ability and their body manipulation ability appear to only be usably by those associated with Kars and the Stone Masks; the Pillar Men race originally used primitive weapons such as spears before they were massacred. Light Mode: Kars' power is that of light; he is able to produce bladed appendages from his arms and legs and use these to reflect blinding light toward his enemies. The light comes from the tiny, shark teeth-like claws running along the edge of the blade much like a chainsaw. It is from the reflections of these claws that gives Kars' Light Slip Blades their shining intensity. In this mode, Kars' blades are sharp enough to cut through most objects, including an automobile and several bullets at blinding speeds. Personality Kars is intelligent, ruthless, and single-minded in his dedication to obtain the Red Stone of Aja. He was stated to have been a genius among the Pillar Men, having been the original creator of the stone masks. Initially, he appears to be the most aloof and no-nonsense of the Pillar Men, rarely smiling and often being the one who has to remind the other two of their ultimate objective. Kars is obsessed with the Red Stone of Aja, and is willing to trample anyone in his way, no matter how dishonorable the method. With the advantage of his resilience and immortality, Kars is a methodical and patient individual, advancing his pawns carefully, planning several moves ahead. Unaffected by setback, he will relentlessly struggle to win. Still, Kars possesses a murderous and sadistic nature. He has stated that a life without an enemy is boring and has shown to enjoy fights occasionally, even though he only really appreciates seeing his enemies being in a weak position and panicking, and often licks his lips in anticipation of their demise. Kars also came across as mockingly polite, as he offered Lisa Lisa poison in order to die on her own terms. These tendencies only become more clear when he attains his ultimate form, and is seen to thoroughly enjoy his status as the most powerful lifeform on Earth. Kars reveals himself a power-hungry Pillar Man, fixated on controlling the full potential of his body and the idea of resting "at the top". When he discovered that the Pillar Men's brain held untapped potential, much like humans, Kars wanted to control it. That obsession made him build the Stone Masks and look of the Red Stone of Aja. The fact that the rest of his tribe didn't want to "conquer the sun" as he wished, albeit they were fearing that Kars would kill every lifeform on Earth in his attempt, enraged him. Kars keeps an ambiguous relationship toward those around him. He expresses himself to care deeply for Esidisi and Wamuu despite slaughtering his own parents and people while considering Santana as nothing but a simple guard dog. That attachment to Esidisi was also a catalyst for Kars expressing a murderous rage towards his comrade's killer Joseph Joestar, only acting on it once he achieved his Ultimate form. Kars also seems to certain respect for nature and animals, as he killed a drunk driver who threatened to hit a puppy, and when he fell off a cliff, and he deliberately complicated an otherwise-simple landing to avoid falling on a flower. However, he does later attack a squirrel when testing his Ultimate Form's abilities and is said to have threatened an entire ecosystem fueling his Stone Masks. Thus Kars holds a certain amount of affections, but those affections always come second to his goals. Pre-Clash Biography Kars was around during the brink of evolution where his people lived underground and strived off the essence of all living things at the same time, failing to reproduce due to their long and worthy lifespans. Frustrated by their ignorance of perfection, Kars wanted the beings to find a way to "tame the sun" and leave the underground. In time, Kars created the Stone Masks in order for his race to become immune to the effects of the sun, and proceeded to kidnap humans in order to test the effects of the Stone Masks. However, the masks that he created, while capable of turning humans into vampires, were unable to penetrate deeply enough to unlock the Pillar Men's full potential, only resulting in some increased body manipulation powers at the cost of greatly increased hunger. Eventually, his race began to fear him for his obsession and sought to execute him as the increased hunger caused by the mask would threaten their way of life if its use became widespread. Kars was shown protesting their actions before being forced to slaughter the race of Pillar Men himself, including his own parents. Along with Esidisi, one of the only members of his race who agreed with his ideals, he took two children, who were presumably the Pillar Men to be known as Santana and Wamuu. Eventually, Kars learns of the Red Stone of Aja which he believed would perfect the Stone Mask. He developed a modified version of the mask that could combine with a flawless Super Aja, leaving Santana behind while he and the others travel across the sea to Europe. There, during the time of the Roman Empire, Kars finds a Super Aja in the possession of a Roman Emperor, but is blocked from his goal by a tribe of Ripple users. While successful in the tribe's decimation, he and his comrades were forced to hibernate under the Roman Colosseum. BATTLE TENDENCY (1938-39) Kars is introduced as the leader of the Pillar Men, getting attacked by Wamuu after stepping on his shadow and apologizing for having forgotten that trait. After Joseph's initial defeat, Kars and the other Pillar Men set off to find the location of the Red Stone of Aja, but eventually settle in an abandoned mansion in San Moritz, Switzerland. Having found a lead to the stone, Esidisi had planned to contact Kars after retrieving it, but was promptly defeated by Joseph instead. With no phone call, Kars assumes something amiss and sets off to Italy to handle things himself. At the border between Switzerland and Italy, he is confronted by Rudol von Stroheim and almost effortlessly defeats him after some struggle. At the same time, Kars is able to retrieve the stone, but has it taken from him by Joseph after a short mingle off a cliff. Kars travels back to San Moritz, where he is eventually confronted by Joseph and Lisa Lisa. He agrees to have a fair fight with Lisa Lisa at the nearby ruins, but ultimately tricks her during their fight with a doppelgänger and steals the stone from her, leaving her unconscious. This immediately enrages Joseph, who battles Kars but is continually trapped in a dilemma where Kars pierces Lisa Lisa's feet and strings a rope through the wounds, forcing Joseph to grab the rope to stop her from falling. An overconfident Kars approaches as Joseph lights his scarf on fire and attacks, but falls from the beam clutching the rope as Kars severs it to finish off Lisa Lisa. However, this is revealed to have been Joseph's intentional setup, as he drew Kars' attention to his upper body while he arranged the loop of rope with his legs below, tricking him into stepping into the loop and forcing him to keep his opponents above the spikes below. Kars faces Joseph in a final standoff with his arm blade, but is soundly beaten as Joseph's Ripple breaks the blade and wounds his arm, knocking him off the railing and into the spikes below. Stroheim and his Nazi troops arrive along with Speedwagon, Smokey and the Speedwagon Foundation Special Forces. Stroheim gloats over Kars before ordering his troops to finish the Pillar Man off. As the Nazi's unleash ultraviolet light upon him, Kars unexpectedly dons a modified Stone Mask with the Super Aja in place; the light activates the mask and enables him to enter his ultimate form. The humans can only stand in horror as Kars displays his new-found power by briefly transforming his hand into a flesh-eating squirrel and then standing in the sunlight while his remaining vampire minions are instantly destroyed. Kars then proceeds to enact his murderous intent on Joseph's life as the latter lures him away from the others in a German airplane, using it to force Kars into a volcano in hopes the magma can kill him. Inside the volcano, Kars evolves a continuous and inorganic porous material to protect himself from the magma while digging his way out and slicing Joseph's arm off. He then developed his own Ripple, the energy potent enough to melt human flesh, deciding to use it to kill Joseph out of poetic justice. Joseph unconsciously defends himself by using the Super Aja to redirect Kars' Ripple into the ground, causing an eruption that blasts the land the two fighters are on into the air. Kars attempts to escape, but is briefly distracted by Joseph, allowing volcanic debris and the latter's severed forearm enough time to knock Kars out of Earth's orbit. Kars prepares to return to Earth after being thrown out of orbit by ejecting the built-up air within his body, but the air freezes on its way out. His vital body begins to freeze from the near-absolute zero temperature and he becomes trapped in the void of space for eternity. Unable to die even though he wishes for it, Kars eventually stops thinking. Notable Actions Relationships Trivia * The explanation for Kars' Ultimate Lifeform ability to transform into animals is a reference to recapitulation theory. Category:Characters Category:Player Characters Category:AetheticMonkey Category:Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Category:Pillar Men Category:Male Category:Shapeshifters